Quantbot Technologies LP Has $3.22 Million Stock Holdings in BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE)

Quantbot Technologies LP decreased its stake in shares of BCE Inc. (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) by 46.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 87,382 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP’s holdings in BCE were worth $3,223,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rathbones Group PLC increased its position in shares of BCE by 2.6% during the second quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 62,332 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,018,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in BCE by 15.8% in the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 482,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,603,000 after acquiring an additional 65,899 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 166.1% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $296,000 after buying an additional 5,715 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,564,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,379,000 after buying an additional 186,659 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of BCE by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $497,000 after buying an additional 4,067 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 41.46% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on BCE. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of BCE from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of BCE from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.33.

BCE Price Performance

BCE stock opened at $34.38 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.62, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00. BCE Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.13 and a 12 month high of $41.77. The firm has a market cap of $31.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 5.89 and a beta of 0.58. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $34.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.83.

BCE (NYSE:BCE) (TSE:BCE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $4.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.46 billion. BCE had a net margin of 8.39% and a return on equity of 17.10%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that BCE Inc. will post 2.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BCE Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.729 per share. This represents a $2.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 8.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 16th. BCE’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 204.86%.

BCE Company Profile

BCE Inc, a communications company, provides wireless, wireline, Internet, and television (TV) services to residential, business, and wholesale customers in Canada. The company operates through two segments, Bell Communication and Technology Services, and Bell Media. The Bell Communication and Technology Services segment provides wireless products and services including mobile data and voice plans and devices; wireline products and services comprising data, including internet access, internet protocol television, cloud-based services, and business solutions, as well as voice, and other communication services and products; and satellite TV and connectivity services for residential, small and medium-sized business, government, and large enterprise customers.